Explore the Family Name Che

The meaning of Che

1. Chinese: Mandarin and Cantonese form of the surname 車, meaning ‘carriage’ or ‘cart’ in Chinese: (i) said to be borne by descendants of Che Ou (車區), an astrologist during the reign of the legendary Huang Di, the ‘Yellow Emperor’ (c.27th century bc). (ii) shortened form of the surname Zi Che (子車), a surname of noblemen in the state of Qin. (iii) from Che Cheng Xiang (車丞相), literally ‘Carriage Prime Minister’, the title of Tian Qianqiu, a prime minister during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–25 AD). He earned the title because when he was old and decrepit, Emperor Zhao of Han (94–74 BC) took pity on him and allowed him to move into and out of the palace by carriage instead of on foot. (iv) adopted as a surname by the Che Kun (車裩) and Che Fei (車非) families from the Xianbei ethnic group in northern China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD). 2. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 謝, see Xie 1. 3. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 齊, see Qi 1. 4. Vietnamese (Chế): written 制 in Chinese, of unexplained etymology. It is found among the Cham people in southern Vietnam. 5. Korean: variant of Chae. 6. Amerindian (Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize; also Ché): Mayan name, from cheʹ ‘tree, wood’. 7. Catalan (Valencia): nickname from xe ‘typical person from Valencia’ (from the interjection xe!). Some characteristic forenames: Chinese Wai Man, Ming, Sang, Song, Yuan, Chae, Duck, Hong, Hsiao, Hui-Wen, Jianwei, Jingbo. Vietnamese Hien, Hung, Khanh, Minh, Thanh, Anh, Cau, Chi Thi, Hoa Van, Liet, Linh, Mai. Southeast Asian Chong, Chung, Manh, Mi Young, Phong, Shen, Sun Ja, Tuong. Spanish Anbrocio, Anica, Domingo, Jose, Juan, Pedro, Sevastian, Toribio, Ysidoro.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.